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A Guide to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

A Guide to the Agency for Healthcare Research and QualityWhat is the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality?

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is a Federal agency that operates within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality supports all forms of research designed to improve the outcomes and overall quality of health care, including the reduction of its costs. Additionally, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality addresses patient safety and medical errors, as well as broadens access to effective services.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, to promote the access of decent and affordable healthcare, will sponsor, conduct and disseminate research in order to provide help to people when making decisions regarding their health care services. Furthermore, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will also act as the regulator for Patient Safety Organizations that are certified under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act. In general, to sum up these various roles and responsibilities will perform Health Outcomes Research initiatives.

How does the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Operate?

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will provide their basic functions following an evaluation of healthcare services. The agency defines quality indicators to measure the effectiveness of health care quality based upon available statistics offered by a hospital’s inpatient administrative office. These various indicators consist of four modules, which evaluate various aspects of healthcare including:

The Prevention Quality Indicator which identifies hospital admissions that indicate what can be avoided or should not be included in high-quality outpatient care

The in-patient quality indicator reflects the quality of care inside hospitals including inpatient mortality for surgical procedures and medical conditions

Patient Safety indicators which reflect quality of care inside hospitals, but tend to focus on avoidable complications

The Pediatric quality indicator is a tool that includes all the above indicators related to the field of pediatrics

In addition to evaluating healthcare practices, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality produces an audio newscast to help keep individuals informed of the agency’s latest health care research findings, information and opinions.

Government Agency of the Executive Branch:

Government agencies are defined as organizations, councils, and offices operating under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of the United States of America; each federal agency retains specific administrative jurisdiction over specific facets latent within the operations of the United States Government.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality functions as a government agency under the Executive Branch of the United States government, which is comprised of 3 total branches; in addition to the Executive branch – which is responsible for the regulation and enforcement of operational legislation existing within the United States of America – there also exists the Legislative and Judicial Branches.